Graduation Year
2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
English
Major Professor
Nicole Guenther Discenza, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Emily G. Jones, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Jenifer J. Schneider, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Marty Gould, Ph.D.
Keywords
monster, Beowulf, Grendel, dragon, Heorot Hall, Hrothgar, graphic novels, classic adaptations, Gareth Hinds
Abstract
I examine how some authors and illustrators of children’s and young adult literature adapt the old English Beowulf, how critics receive their works, and the functions these adaptations serve. My focus is on how the interplay between the visual and verbal text modifies or amplifies the overall story as well as how theories of translation/adaptation, monster, gender, and post-colonialism provide insight and aid in analysis. My ultimate objective is to demonstrate the significance of children’s and young adult adaptations of Beowulf and how these texts contribute to a rich and varied corpus. I argue that the adapter’s social/cultural context affected their creation, particularly in the characterization of the monsters (Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon) and the portrayal of their so-called monstrousness and how that adds to their differentiation from humans. My close reading of the illustrations (visual text) in these adaptations reflects later twentieth and twenty-first-century interpretations and characterizations of Beowulf and provide not only more detailed but also more nuanced and challenging depictions than are indicated by the verbal text alone. These modern depictions question earlier translators/adapters’ views of the relationship between Beowulf and the monsters and trouble clear distinctions between good/evil and human/monster in a way much more akin to the perspectives of early medieval societies. Questioning these distinctions and clear boundaries between humans and monsters suggests that the monsters of Beowulf may be justified in their actions and that the extreme response of humans differs little from the extreme nature of the monsters’ response.
Scholar Commons Citation
Burton, Johanna Katharine, "The Monsters in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Illustrated Adaptation of Beowulf for Children and Young Adults" (2024). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/10602
